Security in a Connected Enterprise: Protecting Networks, Facilities and Systems

Manufacturing and industrial facilities are operating in ways they scarcely could have imagined a few decades ago.

Greater connectivity and information sharing is significantly transforming companies and their operations. They’re converging information technology (IT) and operations technology (OT) systems and using new technologies such as mobile, analytics, cloud and virtualization to do more than ever before.

However, just as the nature of manufacturing and industrial operations has changed, so have the security risks. More connected operations can create more potential entrance points for security threats. A 2014 Kaspersky Labs survey revealed 21 percent of manufacturers suffered an intellectual property loss within a one-year period.1 These threats can come in many different forms – physical or digital, internal or external, malicious or unintentional.

As a result, industrial security must be holistic. It should extend from the enterprise through the plant level and even out to end devices, and address risks across people, processes and technologies. It should also involve collaboration between IT and OT personnel. Both sides have vital roles to play.

Developing and implementing an effective industrial security program requires that you first understand the risks and areas of vulnerability that exist within your organization.

A security assessment will help you understand your current security posture regarding your software, networks, control system, policies and procedures, and even employee behaviors. It should be the starting point for any security policy.

Prioritization of each vulnerability, based on impact and exploitation potential.

The final outcome of any security assessment should include a documented and actionable list of mitigation techniques required to bring an operation to an acceptable risk state.

Defense-in-Depth Security

Industrial security is best implemented as a complete system across your operations, and a defense-in-depth (DiD) security framework supports this approach. Based on the notion that any one point of protection can and likely will be defeated or breached, DiD security establishes multiple layers of protection through a combination of physical, electronic and procedural safeguards.

Your automation vendors are just as integral to helping you meet your security goals as they are your production, quality and safety goals.

Before selecting vendors, request they disclose their security policies and practices. Consider if they follow five core security principles for designing products used in a control system, which include:

A secure network infrastructure: Vendors can help keep information in the automation layer secure and confidential. For example, embedded technology can validate and authenticate devices before they are granted access to a network.

Authentication and policy management: Company policies dictate data access levels for employees. Automation products can support these policies using access control lists to manage user access to devices and applications.

Content protection: Intellectual property is the lifeblood of your operations. Your automation solutions can help protect it by assigning passwords to routines and add-on instructions, and by using digital rights management to limit users’ ability to view and edit device data.

Tamper detection: Built-in tamper detection can detect any unauthorized system activity and alert the right personnel. It also can log key details, such as where the attempted intrusion took place, how it occurred and if anything was modified.

Robustness: A robust vendor security approach includes providing security training to employees, using design-for-security development practices, and testing products to global security standards. It also includes conducting final security reviews before products are released, verifying processes stay current with standards and technologies, and having a plan in place to address vulnerabilities.

Monitor and Evolve

Security threats aren’t relenting. They will only continue to evolve as the industry changes its security practices or implements new defense. Your security risk management strategy must keep pace, and evolve with or ahead of the changing threat landscape.

With the continual evolution toward greater connectivity, the vastness of today’s security concerns can be daunting. The approaches outlined here can help align your company with best industry practices for protecting intellectual property, facilities, assets, employees and competitive advantages.

Works Cited:

1 Kaspersky Lab Survey: One in Every Five Manufacturing Businesses Has Lost Intellectual Property to Security Breaches Within the Past Year, Kaspersky Labs, Aug. 13, 2014